Amaranthe listened to what he said while she had started looking around the cave. She was careful not to go too far to lose the clarity of his words, but still poked her nose at bends and crevices in the stone walls. Occasionally she found one or two cracks whistled ever so softly from the outside world. She blew her own breath back at them in disdain. Careful with her hooves to make sure she did not create an echo, the friesian tasted the floor of the cave, scraping at it gently with her hairy hooves to test how soft and smooth it was in some places.

“Many of my herd liked to travel, and we did not kick sons out. Instead it was our goal to grow create many herds that could be united as one. It was occasionally a challenge to get new blood, but promising colts and stallions from fallen herds could find a place in the ranks.” She explained this all as she continued to check about the cave. If this was possibly going to be a preferred cave for the herd, she wanted to know the best spots in it, how many horses it would be able to shelter, and how comfortable they would be. She even poked her head back out of the cave into the spring air to see how far she would have to go in or out to escape the winter wind that would return to the island. If she stayed, that was.

Her dark eyes rested on the young stallion, mildly surprised that he had asked her such a question. There was indeed a lot of potential in Nephilim. Humility, she pondered, was something that her home had lacked, possibly a key in its downfall. A slow, warming smile crept onto her face, unbeknownst to her.

“Yes…” She answered slowly, thinking carefully about her next steps. If she did choose to stay, anything she said could possibly help the stallion she would be loyal to. Should she choose to leave, anything she withheld could be given then to another. She decided to stick to basics.

“First tip; no trick is too dirty if complete victory is what you want. If you want to have some sort of respect between you and whoever you are fighting make the ‘dirty’ tricks clean, more like warnings, to let them know you could have killed them but respected their lives enough to let them live.” She stepped closer to him, her head tilted slightly to the side. “Someone whose life is indebted to you can be a powerful ally. Sometimes mercy and honor can get you further than bloodshed and foul play. When someone knows you hold their life in your hands they will often do whatever they can to settle that debt, and it is one of the steepest prices to pay.”

Her mind wandered to the fall season, Fallo’s crimes against her. It was a debt she was determined to make him pay. Being truthful with herself, she was not confident that she could be the debt collector on her own. It was that newfound concept of humility. The feeling of helplessness and hopelessness in the area of revenge and justice was just enough to nag at her.

Silence had passed while she was in deep thought about these things. “Do not needlessly destroy lives.” she said out of the silence, her voice as distant as her thoughts. “They will come back to haunt you eventually.”

AMARANTHE

MARE :: FRIESIAN :: 15.3hh :: BLACK